In what has been described as “the most significant exposition of its ‘Act East’ policy,” India invited Southeast Asian heads of state as its chief guests during its recent 69th Republic Day parade.
The Commemorative Summit, held on January 25 and themed “Shared values, Common Destiny”, arguably marked the arrival of India as a major force in the broader Indo-Pacific theater.
The event was held against the backdrop of a revived and still emerging India, United States, Japan and Australia “quadrilateral” strategic arrangement aimed at counterbalancing China’s ambitions in the region.
Under its “Act East” policy, previously known as “Look East”, India has recently doubled down on its trade, investment and strategic relations with East and Southeast Asia, home to some of the world’s most dynamic economies and source of the natural resources, technology and markets needed to fuel its own fast growth.
The rise of China and perceived threats to India’s interests has reinforced New Delhi’s hopes of deepening its cooperation with key regional actors, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Certain Southeast Asian countries have gradually come to embrace India as a major trading partner and a potential counterbalancing force for stability in the region. China’s rising assertiveness, including in the contested South China Sea, served as backdrop for the recent India-hosted summit.
The pageantry of the summit, which saw the attendance of 11 heads of state and government, underlined the diplomatic uptrend. Both sides celebrated 25 years of dialogue partnership, 15 years of summit level interaction, and five years of strategic partnership.
The event was attended by all Southeast Asian leaders, including those with the hottest claims vis-a-vis China in the South China Sea, namely Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, this year’s Asean rotating chairman, was also in attendance.
As expected, trade and maritime security issues dominated the agenda. At the same time, India’s business-oriented and nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi deftly leveraged the event to project himself as a global and regional statesman.
The economic stakes are high. Over the past year, India’s trade with Asean expanded by 10%, rising from US$65.1 billion to US$71.6 billion. While a positive uptrend, the numbers still pale in comparison to China’s US$452.31 billion in trade with Asean countries in 2016.
The Modi administration is intent on expanding trade and investment relations with booming Southeast Asia, which is moving towards greater economic integration with the hope of creating a common market within a decade.
India is also interested in engaging and influencing the direction of negotiations of Asean-led initiatives, namely the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement.
The Indian leader also sought to enhance into underdeveloped bilateral relations across Southeast Asia. In particular, Modi held cordial exchanges with Filipino leader Duterte, who likewise called for deeper economic ties between the two countries.
The Philippines and India discussed US$1.25 billion worth of bilateral investment pledges, largely in the area of energy, transportation, pharmaceutical industries and information technology which are expected to create as many as 10,000 jobs.
Yet, maritime security issues were also a key theme during the summit, with particular focus on China’s rising naval and territorial assertiveness in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Photo: AFP/US Navy/Cole Schroeder
During his speech before Asean heads of state, Modi identified “humanitarian and disaster relief efforts, security cooperation and freedom of navigation” as key areas for maritime cooperation.
During the “retreat” segment of the summit, the leaders held off-the-record discussions which addressed maritime security issues, according to sources familiar with the talks.
Maritime security issues were highly prominent in the joint India-Asean statement, dubbed as the “Delhi Declaration.” Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to, “maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, and other lawful uses of the seas.”
They emphasized the necessity for protecting “unimpeded lawful maritime commerce”, while “promot[ing] peaceful resolutions of disputes” in accordance to international law.
In a clear reference to China’s disputes with Southeast Asian claimant states, the declaration also called for “full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DoC)” as well as “early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (CoC).”
The summit underlined India’s burgeoning interest in the South China Sea, through which the bulk of India’s trade and energy passes, not to mention major energy investment deals, particularly with Vietnam.
Perturbed by China’s expanding footprint in the Indian Ocean and rising tensions in disputed India-China borderlands in the Himalayas, the Modi administration appears to be taking the fight to China via stronger cooperation with Asean.
Yet, as Indian experts such as Abhijit Singh have warned, it’s important that both sides effectively manage their expectations lest they set themselves up for strategic disappointment.
They note bilateral India-Asean relations are, in many ways, still in their developmental stages, especially when compared to the bloc’s more robust relations with China, Japan and the United States. For instance, both sides are yet to discuss joint naval exercises, nor were there indications of a major boost to bilateral investment deals.
What is clear, however, is that India is emerging as a key strategic partner for Asean at a time several of its leading states are keen to diversify the region’s rising dependence on an increasingly assertive China. Shared concerns over China’s rise are fast becoming the glue which is bringing India and Asean closer and closer together.
Robert Ferrin
The Western states, Japan, South Korea, taiwan, Israel, all democracies, have done veery well allying with the USA. So why not India? America welcomes the alliance and so do we Indians. What business is this of yours?
Why not? Does the West threaten our borders or swear to back Pakistan no matter how much Pakistan sends terrorists into India? No imperialism is so racist and fascist as Chinese imperialism.
William Mann
I guess you mean charitable to South Asia because the problems I listed is due to poverty, lack of technology, or talented people. If those are your reasons then you are wrong.
South Asia, especially India has the money, technology and talent but she also has so much corruption that the following things can happen:
Major food producer and exporter … while 5000 Indian kids die each day due to malnutrition.
Slums are built… on some of the mos expensive real estate in the world. Cities have the laws to prevent construction of slums and proper city planning but they are not enforced.
pollution is due to success. Massive pollution is coming from successful industries who can get away breaking any law.
India blames all its pains on China, while dancing to the drum beats of the West.. helpless nation… sigh…
So Asia Times has become like the western media. Not all published articles in Asia Times are opened to comments. The recent article authored by Andrew Salmon entitled “Charm offensive: Kim out to wield soft power at Wnier Games” is not opened for comments.
agree
Mao was a Chinese Nazi gangster. He claimed to be Communist but the Soviets were right when they dismissed the CCP as "margarine Communists". The CCP is the Chinese Nazi Crooks Party and since the 1920s has never been anything else.
I don’t expect much from Jung Chang’s history of this horrible country. Her biography of Mao was appalling in its poor judgement and lack of respect for facts.
Whatever else, China is the curse of our time. Along with the Muslims the Chinese mean nothing but trouble. India is particularly in line for it.
You seem to be saying India has no option but to accept whatever kicks China gives and never even seek any alliance in the hope of strengthening her position. A rather egoistic and selfish view, no? What a pity you are apparently of Vietnamese descent. Most Vietnamese I know are very friendly to India. China has never been friendly to us and is not going to start now.
You seem to be saying India has no option but to accept whatever kicks China gives and never even seek any alliance in the hope of strengthening her position. A rather egoistic and selfish view, no? What a pity you are apparently of Vietnamese descent. Most Vietnamese I know are very friendly to India. China has never been friendly to us and is not going to start now.
Come on. Be charitable. One always has to start from somewhere !
Let us compare the strengths and weakneses of China, India and Japan. The Chinese and Japanese are homogenous (I mean in the case of China, the majority Han Chinese), whereas the Indians are not. The strengths of the Chinese are that they’re extremely resilient that they can integrate themselves very easily into all kinds of alien societies whereas the Indians and Japanese are not; the Chinese’ are religiously not as dogmatic as the Indians; the Indians’ only strengths are their ability to maintain and live on democratic principles and their nuclear weapons; the Japanese’ only strengths are their technological achievements and economic power, but their most dangerous weakness is their feeling of being superior to any other non-European peoples – so, their powerbase is built everywheronly among the elite of the countries in which they commercially engage, which is totally opposite to the Chinese – let’s say among the Oversea Chinese, for example, and so on. The main danger for China could come from within and not from outside. With the word "within", I mean corruption among the ruling class and the ever widening disparities of living standard between the very rich and the extreme poor (the hundreds of millions of rural population and the wandering working class). So, I think, to some extent we can already foresee what will happen within the next few coming decades in Asia (South Asia, South East Asia, and Far East Asia).
RCEP? What is that?
It is just ironical to note that many years ago, a former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi (d 1984) had rejected the offer of ASEAN group to join the club! It would be god if India joins the group now.
Syed Abbas those years are nothing. One has to die to be reborn and in India many things are overdoo and ready to be dead long time ago. Cast system is one of those. So be ready for rough ride but it is already happening. For India in order to look into future it has to forget its past. Yes, country had many invaders and many more… and it survived all of that. So there is nothing to be feared, if country decides something almost no one can stop it. That is power of elephant, when elephant decide to move all other animals will clear the way, even dragon will respect it…
Let the 5% high caste hinduvta enjoy the party while it lasts …
With 70% of hindu nation defecating on streets and over 40 % living on less than dollar a day……India the slum country can barely function-but the hindutva fundamentalist terrorist party BJP is dreaming big, unfortunately it will remain just that…"Dreams"
Vamshee Devulapally
My age is 3,500 years. I have seen a lot. How old are you?
You’re welcome. Sorry, I wanted to say the "fault line".
Mr Syed age is catching up with you. The delusion is showing.
The regions that cover ASEAN and SAARC cannot be more lopsided even though both regions share cultures.
Both regions are based on Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic Christian traditions. No other 2 regions share so much in common when it comes to history and culture
That is as far as it goes. Now the disparities are enormous
South Asia made up of 8 nations has a combined population of 1 billion 700 million.
South East Asia made up of around 10 nations has a combined population of 650 million.
South Asia’s GDP is little more than 2 trillion dollars
South East Asia’s GDP is little more than 6 trillion dollars.
Both had Colonial Empires and both have similar cultural backgrounds with far more Buddhists in South East Asia and far more Hindus and Muslims in South Asia. Both are relatively the same geographical size with SE Asia being larger.
Both have immense natural resources.
One would assume with all these similarities economic progress should roughly be the same but it is not
SAARC is the worst regional organization. Dominated by India it goes nowhere.
ASEAN is a brilliant example of various economies working together in spite of their differences to develop so well.